A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Plan Aims to Restore Faith in the Economy - The nation's top economic policymakers unveiled a far-reaching plan yesterday to fortify the U.S. financial system, aiming to prevent a repeat of the credit meltdown that has roiled global markets since the summer. (READ MORE)
Just Days After Scandal, The Promise Of an Audience - Hooking for the Emperors Club and emerging as the Earth's best-known call girl is surely not the career plan Ashley Alexandra Dupre had in mind when she moved to New York to make it as a singer. But now that she's achieved fame at the media stakeout level, as "Kristen," a bunch of music biz talen... (READ MORE)
FBI Found to Misuse Security Letters - The FBI has increasingly used administrative orders to obtain the personal records of U.S. citizens rather than foreigners implicated in terrorism or counterintelligence investigations, and at least once it relied on such orders to obtain records that a special intelligence-gathering court... (READ MORE)
Britons Rankled by 'Sin Taxes' On Gas Hogs, Alcohol, Tobacco - LONDON, March 13 -- Britons were up in arms on Thursday about the imposition of "sin taxes" that will increase the cost of alcohol, cigarettes, gas-guzzling cars and, potentially, plastic bags. (READ MORE)
Kidnapped Archbishop Found Dead in Iraq - BAGHDAD, March 13 -- The body of a senior Christian cleric was found Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, two weeks after gunmen abducted him there and killed three of his associates. (READ MORE)
Petraeus: Iraqi Leaders Not Making 'Sufficient Progress' - BAGHDAD, March 13 -- Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday. (READ MORE)
U.N. had warning of terror attack - U.N. and Algerian officials were warned in advance of a December terrorist attack in Algiers that killed 17 U.N. staffers but they failed to boost security measures at the U.N. compound, a preliminary report says. (READ MORE)
Wuerl eyes humanity for illegals - In a wide-ranging interview with editors and reporters of The Washington Times yesterday, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl cautioned the United States against deporting immigrants wholesale and called on America to act "responsibly" in Iraq. (READ MORE)
Obama's budget vote could come back to bite him - Republicans yesterday forced Sen. Barack Obama to vote against what they labeled his own $1.4 trillion spending plan, cobbled together from his presidential campaign promises — one of a series of budget votes that will provide political fodder for the rest of the election year. (READ MORE)
U.S. economy impacts global markets - Global markets gyrated wildly yesterday on signs that the U.S. economy and mortgage markets continue to unravel despite strenuous efforts to revive them. (READ MORE)
Obama keeps pastor at a distance - The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., a mentor and friend to Sen. Barack Obama for 20 years, in a recent sermon shouted: "God damn America" for its history of slavery, racism and oppression against its black citizens. (READ MORE)
Gilchrest staffers support Democrat - Top staffers to Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, the Republican incumbent defeated in the recent primaries, are backing the Democrat in November, complicating the party's chances of keeping the congressional seat in the largely Democratic district on the Eastern Shore. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
John Hawkins: Why I Am A Conservative - Long ago, when I was a mushy headed moderate, I studied conservatism and liberalism to try to figure out what the best philosophy was for my life and for my country. After doing that, I became a conservative because... * I don't think some politician in Washington who has never held a job outside of politics in his entire life, has a better handle on what to do with my money than I do. * I don't resent wealthy people. To the contrary, I want to become one of them one day. * Government policies should be based on whether they work or not and whether they are constitutional, not on whether they make the people advocating them feel "nice" or "mean." (READ MORE)
Mike Gallagher: Playing the Identity Politics Game - There was a scene in the NBC-TV sitcom “The Office” (possibly the funniest show on television) where the dunderheaded boss, Michael Scott, accepts advice that he must declare bankruptcy. The buffoon boss, doing what he believes he must do strides confidently into the main area of the office and bellows, “I hereby declare bankruptcy!” I’m reminded of that scene when considering the comical ineffectiveness of the political world’s odd expectation of candidates denouncing, renouncing, distancing, disagreeing or otherwise trying to pander to as many people as possible by pretending to be offended by something a supporter said or did. (READ MORE)
Burt Prelutsky: The High Cost of a Free Lunch - Growing up, as I did, in the home of Russian Jewish immigrants, it figures that I’d start out thinking that, by all rights, FDR belonged on Mount Rushmore. But, all these years later, I have concluded that most of America’s woes can be traced back to his presidency, and that the best reason for his being up there along with Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and Teddy Roosevelt, is that his head was already made of stone. Although FDR is often, mistakenly, credited with bringing the Great Depression to an end, as Amity Shlaes made clear in her book, “The Forgotten Man,” his policies, which can best be described as Socialistic and anti-business, in reality prolonged America’s misery. (READ MORE)
Oliver North: Resigned To Reality - AIKEN, S.C. -- The salacious details of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's hypocritical, extramarital love life have captivated the media all week. Had the Empire State's chief executive picked a different day to get caught with his pants down and quit his job, some other prominent resignations might have received more coverage. Apparently, there just aren't enough journalists to stake out the Spitzer's Manhattan apartment, track down his hookers and cover these other premature exits. Tales of the tainted governor took up so much ink and airtime that the potentates of the press didn't even notice the sex scandal that claimed the career of another powerful hypocrite: Tehran's brutal police chief, General Reza Zarei. (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: A War of Worldviews - When Barack Obama promises change for America, I graciously assume, for now, that he doesn't mean he will change America to conform to his apparently racist pastor's vision for this country, though that whole subject deserves far more scrutiny. But we should also seriously examine his promise to deliver a more harmonious climate. It's not just Obama. A lot of Democrats have been pushing the idea of bipartisanship for years. One of the Democrats' earliest criticisms of President Bush was that he didn't reach across the aisle and extend a hand to Democrats. (READ MORE)
Charles Krauthammer: An Election About Identity, Not Policy - WASHINGTON -- Elections can be about policy, personality or identity. The race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is surely not about policy. The differences between the two are microscopic. It did not start out that way. Last year, when Hillary was headed toward a coronation, she deliberately ran to the center. She took more moderate views on Iraq, for example, and voted to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. When she began taking heat for these positions from the other candidates and the Democratic Party's activist core, and as her early lead began to erode, she quickly tacked left and found herself inhabiting precisely the same ideological space as Obama. (READ MORE)
Linda Chavez: Iraq War Could Help GOP Win in November - A funny thing happened on the way to the election: Many Americans had a change of heart about the war in Iraq. No, I'm not talking about the large numbers of Americans who now think that the United States should never have gone to war in the first place, or those who want the troops brought home immediately. To the contrary, two recent Pew Research Center polls show that Americans are more upbeat in their assessment of the Iraq War than at any time in the last couple of years and less focused on American casualties there. Responses to a number of the surveys' questions suggest problems ahead for the Democrats, no matter which candidate the party nominates. (READ MORE)
Bill Steigerwald: Elizabeth Kolbert's Alarming Global Warming Sermon - Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker did not appreciate being ambushed by the local press. But the superstar journalist, though wary, was a good sport when she was gently questioned by a fellow journalist recently in the nearly empty lobby of the Carnegie Music Hall in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. "Turnabout is fair play, I guess," she said to her interrogator, smiling but looking uncomfortable as she defended her well-known role as a global warming alarmist by saying humbly -- and disingenuously -- that she's not a scientist but merely a reporter who relies "on the consensus of the scientific community." (READ MORE)
Ashley Herzog: Will Feminists Again Attempt To Censor Science? - How long before feminists try to censor this? Last week, Science Daily reported on a study from Northwestern University which proved “that girls have superior language abilities than boys...and gender differences in language appear biological.” Through MRI scans, the researchers discovered that girls’ brains work harder and use more areas during language tasks than boys’—leading them to conclude that “boys’ and girls’ brains are different.” This is bad news for feminists, who insist that men and women are really the same (besides the obvious physical distinctions), and that any differences are the products of socialization, “gender roles” and discrimination—and any scientist who suggests otherwise will be punished. (READ MORE)
DJ Drummond: The Privileged Class - One of the mostly untouched subjects in debates between Conservatives and Liberals, is a direct discussion about Class Warfare. On the one hand, it is patently obvious that Liberals believe that Society is divided into various cultural and economic strata, which they blame for a number of perceived injustices. On the other hand, Liberals refuse to test many of their assumptions, as indeed is a problem for Conservatives as well. Today, I would like to explore the hypothesis of the privileged class. The basic assumption among Liberals is that there are certain Americans who, to put it simply, have things too good. (READ MORE)
Westhawk: Will proxy allies be friends forever? - Five years of war in Iraq and over six in Afghanistan have caused even the most hardened American strategists to search for better ways to approach this century’s military problems. The experience in Iraq would seem to have removed the “direct method,” the large-scale employment of general-purpose U.S. ground forces, from future consideration, as least as it pertains to stabilizing open-ended ethnic conflicts. Further, it has been U.S. policy to attempt to stand up and support inclusive, representative governments in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the results of these efforts look fragile. Tribal, sectarian, and ethnic divisions are preventing the establishment of effective governments in both countries. (READ MORE)
Soccerdad: Soccer Dad urges UN SG to end ‘disproportionate’ sanctimony - Secretary-General’s address to the 11th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference “As I told the Security Council when I briefed them earlier this month, Israel’s disproportionate and excessive use of force has killed and injured many civilians, including children. I condemn these actions and call on Israel to cease such attacks. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise utmost restraint.” And what did the SG say to the Security Council? “While recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself, I condemn the disproportionate and excessive use of force that has killed and injured so many civilians, including children. I call on Israel to cease such attacks. Israel must fully comply with international humanitarian law and exercise the utmost restraint. Incidents in which civilians have been killed or injured must be investigated and accountability must be ensured.” Notice what’s missing from the Secretary General’s talk to the OIC? … recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Suck It Up, Florida And Michigan - I dunno about you people, but I'm getting a bit tired of all the whining and wailing about the Florida and Michigan Democratic primaries. "Our votes should count!" "We're being disenfranchised!" "We want to have our say!" Folks, the time to bitch was before you voted. The Democratic National Committee set its schedule -- as is its right -- for the primaries. The state parties all had their chances to argue before it was set, and even after. You folks are represented by those state parties, and they are the ones who decided to ignore the rules and play "chicken" with the DNC. (READ MORE)
David Bernstein: Jews, Blacks, and Political Power - Ilya's post below on Spitzer reminds me that being of Jewish background myself (no, really!), I have found it very interesting that Obama has been receiving such overwhelming support from African Americans in this election. It's one thing to support Jesse Jackson or even Al Sharpton for symbolic reasons, but Obama actually has a good chance of becoming president. Among Jews of past generations, and to a lesser extent even today, the last thing in the world many would want is a Jewish president. While such an achievement would undoubtedly be a matter of pride, there would also be grave concern that people would "blame the Jews" if things went badly. Moreover, there would be concern that if a Jewish president of the U.S. acted friendly toward Israel, he'd be accused of acting based on his Jewish background, while a Gentile president could be as pro-Israel as his ideology allows. (READ MORE)
Ilya Somin: Eliot Spitzer and Anti-Semitism - The Dog that Didn't Bark - Until his recent downfall, Eliot Spitzer was one of America's most prominent Jewish politicians. Yet his Jewishness has been almost completely absent from the public debate occasioned by his disgrace and resignation. Pundits haven't been pontificating about the implications of Spitzer's downfall for the future of Jewish participation in politics. No one of any consequence has claimed that his misdeeds reflect badly on Jews as a group. And Spitzer himself hasn't tried to "play the anti-Semitism card" by claiming that the feds targeted him because he is Jewish. To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, the absence of anti-Semitism from the discussion of Spitzer is a crucial dog that didn't bark. (READ MORE)
Steve Schippert: Al-Qaeda Foretold Violence Increase, Target Changes in Iraq - In a Voice of America news report, Major General Kevin Bergner said that “Even though violence is dramatically reduced from 2006 and 2007, this has unquestionably been a tough few days and reflects what we have repeatedly said, that al-Qaeda Iraq is a resilient, barbaric enemy.” The VOA report goes on to say without direct attribution that “the U.S. military says the increased attacks can not yet be called a trend and is merely an upswing in violence that they hope will go down.” Not yet. But it may well be a trend if one watches closely for long enough. Why ? Consider a MEMRI translation of a February 12 Qatari daily Al-‘Arab interview with an al-Qaeda in Iraq commander. ‘Abu-Turab Al-Jaza’iri’ noted the trouble AQI is in, particularly his Mosul cells. But the end of the interview is the most telling as he described weeks ago a change in strategy that is unfolding now. (READ MORE)
The Sundries Shack: Congress Votes to Spend More of Your Money on Their Perks and Treats - You think you have economic trouble now? Wait until the Democrats raise your taxes. Again. What’s truly funny about this story is that the Democrats say they can balance the budget by doing nothing more than waiting for the Bush tax cuts (you know, the tax cuts that largely pulled the country out of one recession already) to expire…in two years. Magically, that’ll make the more than 3 trillion-dollar budget just fine. I expect there’s some sort of line item in the budget for producing pixie dust and a Federal Star-Wishing Progam because they’ll need all the help they can get to make that little fantasy get off the ground. Meanwhile, they’ve made very sure to stuff that budget as full of pork and voter bribes as they possibly can. (READ MORE)
TigerHawk: Muslims, as a religion, call for prosecution of Israel - It is hard to avoid wondering how the world's media would react if "Jews" or "Christians" called for the prosecution of Hamas or Hezbollah or al Qaeda or any number of other Islamist organizations for their war crimes, including the failure to wear a uniform, the deliberate targeting of civilians, the weaponization of civilians, and the violation of the rights of uniformed soldiers who are imprisoned. In all likelihood, the Western chattering classes would denounce a symmetrical Judeo-Christian response to this demand as baiting a "religious war," but is this not what Muslims do when they make these pronouncements under religious authority rather than national? (READ MORE)
Sister Toldjah: Question for Barack Obama: What part of the gospel promotes racism? - Barack Obama’s controversial black nationalist reverend is back in the news today, thanks to some detective work from ABC News: “Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor says blacks should not sing ‘God Bless America’ but ‘God damn America.’” Isn’t it interesting that Senator Obama doesn’t view essentially calling the US a white supremacist nation nor equating the US and its military with the 9/11 terrorists as “particularly controversial”? As I’ve mentioned in prior posts this week, I’m sick of all the demanded apologies and denunciations coming from each of the campaigns, so that is not what I am asking for here. What is troubling though is the national media’s mostly glossing over BO’s longtime friendship with Wright, only throwing out the occasional bone on the mentorship, in what I guess are their lame attempts at appearing “fair.” (READ MORE)
Daniel Jackson: The Shas Endgame--Defections in the Ranks - Yesterday, Foreign Minister Livni spoke at Harvard and, in response to international pressure, announced that her government would not be permitting the proposed construction in Pisgat Zeev. There was not a peep from the prime minister’s office nor did Shas have anything to say. This is not the first time that domestic policy has been announced overseas by an Israeli dignitary; however, the fact that there was no other response for or against within Israel suggested that it was another one of Olmert’s lackeys firing wildly to please the crowd. In Israel, sometimes the silence is more telling than the polemics. In a society where most adults have served in the military in one form or another, people will gripe about their high command but follow orders nevertheless. Every commander knows that a certain amount of grumbling is in order. (READ MORE)
Donald Sensing: Hamas rockets own infants - Hamas has taken under rocket fire two Palestinian twin infants and their mother. “When a Palestinian woman gave birth to twins in an Israeli hospital she experienced what it is like to be the target of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.” Gaza resident Iman Shafii became pregant with quadruplets a little more than nine months ago. But two of the unborn babies died in utero. Gazan doctors then advised her that to save the other two she would have to go to Israel to receive proper medical care. “The Shafiis were lucky. Iman was permitted to enter Israel after only 24 hours. She took a taxi to a spot near the Eres border crossing, and then she was pushed in a wheelchair across the last 500 meters of bumpy ground. She reached the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon just in time. She gave birth on Feb. 25, by Caesarean section, to a girl, Bayan, and to the couple's long-awaited son, Faisal. ...” Then Iman discovered what it was like to live under the gun of Hamas terror. (READ MORE)
Right Wing News: Hillary's Scorched Earth Campaign - Hillary Clinton’s campaign is starting to remind me of the orders General Grant gave to General Sheridan for the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign. Angry that a confederate army led by Jubal Early had been able to use the Valley both as a granary for the southern armies and a sheltered invasion route of the north, Grant created the 40,000 man Army of the Shenandoah and put the bulldog Sheridan in command with two specific orders; kill Early’s army and “consume and destroy all forage and subsistence, burn all barns and mills and drive off all stock in the region.” Valley residents who complained about the wholesale destruction were told, per Sheridan’s instructions, “that they have furnished too many meals to guerrillas to expect much sympathy.” (READ MORE)
Right Truth: Court asked to restore to Christians the rights that political correctness in the United States today grants other religions - Political correctness has been eroding Christian rights here in the United States for years. It seems that authorities bend over for Islam, trying to accommodate Muslims. They can pray whenever they want, have special foot-baths, special prayer rooms, ... yet Christians in many instances cannot pray, cannot use the name of God or Jesus. Finally some Christians are beginning to fight back. About time. “A court hearing is coming in which the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be asked to restore to Christians the rights that political correctness in the United States today grants other religions, including the right to pray to their God. The case involves Rev. Hashmel Turner and the city of Fredericksburg, Va., and is being handled by the constitutional experts at The Rutherford Institute.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl: Obama Perplexed: Trinity Is A Conservative Church - This is perhaps the most comprehensive defense of Obama's pastor and his Trinity Church I've read and it's worth the read if the subject interests you and you have an open mind. I pulled out a few quotes because they raise questions from my perspective. But these excerpts are not representative of the entire article. Point being - what did Obama convert from in tears under the old wooden cross? I thought he was always a Christian? And what is Wright's evidence that white supremacy is getting worse in America, not better? Also, if that's the case and Obama is a disciple of Wrights, exactly what type of change does Obama have in mind when it comes to race relations in America? The church also celebrates Kwanzaa. I wonder, is this something Obama intends to continue if he's elected president? His holiday cards are pretty generic ... for a committed Christian. (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" - March 2008 - This past Tuesday the Department of Defense released it's quarterly report, "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq". As stated in the report,it is "submitted pursuant to the section entitled "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" of House Conference Report 109-72 accompanying H.R. 1268, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005, Public Law 109-13." You can download this and other valuable reports from the Defenselink Publications website. Following are a few quotes from the report, followed by my comments. Although I have looked at all 69 pages, my time is limited and I've skimmed through rather than read the entire document. Readers are encouraged to download it and judge for themselves. (READ MORE)
Paul Mirengoff: "A Triumph of Ideology over Evidence" - Debates about how well or badly the United States is doing in the war on terror seem to have one feature in common. Those who say we're doing well rely on objective, measurable data -- e.g., no successful terrorist attacks on the homeland in six and a half years; very few successful terrorist attacks against Europe; two governments that harbored terrorists and sponsored terrorism toppled and replaced by governments that don't do these things; scores of al Qaeda leaders captured or killed, etc. By contrast, those who say we're doing badly tend to rely on impressionistic, non-measurable arguments -- e.g, we've alienated our allies to the point that we're not getting sufficient cooperation; countless otherwise peace-loving Muslims have been driven to a life of terrorism by our actions, etc. (READ MORE)
Scott Johnson: The connection, take 54 - The Weekly Standard's Steve Hayes is the man who wrote the book on The Connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. He also wrote the Standard article on "The connection." The Bush administration long ago gave up trying to tell the truth about the issue, as it has on so many others where it has been beaten into submission by the elite media. And so when the Pentagon recently released its 59-page report confirming Hayes's reportage, the media have been left free to misrepresent it with impunity, as McClatchy's Warren Strobel does here, as the New York Times blog does here, and as the ABC blog does here. Steve has now obtained and reviewed the report in its entirety. In a post previewing his article in the forthcoming issue of the Standard, Steve writes: (READ MORE)
Knee Deep in the Hooah!: Anniversaries and Cabbages and Kings - We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of Mike’s deployment. One year. One very long, tiring and scary year. He turned 22-years old the day they landed in Kuwait. I remember the picture he sent me through e-mail of him sitting at a picnic table drinking a very nasty looking near-beer in celebration. A lot happens in a year. I think we have both aged far more than 365 days though — and I am sure he aged more than I did. We have lost time together that can never be replaced, and we have lost some common ground. My son is now among that highly respected group of Americans known as Combat Veterans. Even though I know he has grown and changed during this time, he will come home and look about the same to me, undoubtedly. (READ MORE)
Yankeemom: Has America Lost The Concept of Evil? - Or Right and Wrong? From the actions (and non-actions) of our politicians and the media, one could conclude that we have. We have congress critters caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar and still allowed to legislate LAWS for the rest of us. Others are playing with our lives by NOT legislating laws that could save us from attacks by a fierce and malevolent enemy who doesn’t play by any civilized rules. But we are expected to “hold the moral high ground”, no matter what the costs. There are backroom deals between career politicians that fill their pockets and make America weaker. The UN, which includes too many countries who are not our friends, is being allowed to direct our policies. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Closed Session - Only the 5th in the House since 1825, called by the GOP to allow a frank and open discussion of the FISA bill. The Hill: “ House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has agreed to a GOP request for a secret House session Thursday to discuss the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA). House Republicans had been seeking the closed session to delay a vote on a new Democratic FISA overhaul, unveiled Tuesday, and discuss its national security implications.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to hear what kind of nonsense comes out of this session. Because there will be nonsense, and we will get to hear about it. (READ MORE)
Gribbit: NOAA: Coldest Winter Since 2001 - It is seeming like that each day produces another agency that previously predicted that scorching of the earth due to man-made activity is coming forth with SOME truth about the winter of 2008. That it is the coldest since … The since part is debatable. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is now jumping into the fray stating that this winter has been the coldest since 2001. Others claim that this has been the coldest winter since 1993 or 1994 to which I would tend to agree. The temperature hit -20 F in February of 1994 here in Ohio. There were big-rigs abandoned on the interstate with gelled diesel fuel in their fuel tanks in North East Ohio on that cold February day. That was actual temperature not wind chill -20 F. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Oprah’s boards burning with Wright responses; Wright accuses America of creating the HIV virus - As I noted earlier, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has more than one high-profile member in his congregation. Besides presidential hopeful Barack Obama, Wright also preaches his message to Oprah Winfrey, one of the most successful and beloved media personalities in America. She has an active on-line community at Oprah.com, and her forums have had almost 300 posts from members in the past 24 hours after the revelations of race-baiting and hatred at Trinity United Church. Most talk about their concern over the content of Wright’s sermons: (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Wife’s hospital on Obama’s earmark: No worries, she didn’t ask him for it personally - Everyone happy? Everyone cool with the theory that John McCain trying to funnel a million dollars of federal money to his wife’s business in the same year she got a massive raise would be media-kosher so long as she, herself, didn’t personally ask him for it — which of course no one could ever prove or disprove? Great, let’s get some lunch. “Kelly M. Sullivan, the medical center’s vice president for communications and marketing, noted that Mr. Obama had also requested money for a number of other hospitals in Illinois, and she said any lobbying for the money had been handled by the hospital’s government-affairs officials.” (READ MORE)
Gateway Pundit: The Saddam-Al Qaeda Links: In Photos and Video - Unfortunately... There were no royal dinner parties between former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden greeting guests in one of his palace gardens. They never held a joint press conference either. However, as much as today's corrupt media insists that there were no links between Saddam and Al-Qaeda or that Al-Qaeda is still not operating in Iraq there is much evidence to the contrary. For starters, even the latest Pentagon report the media is referring to today explains links between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. (Linkmeaning: a bond, or a connecting element or factor) Obviously... ABC News must have forgotten about their previous reporting. Today ABC insists no links could be found. (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: Let’s Elect the Muslim Brotherhood - Fjordman and I have both written pessimistically about the possibility of installing (or imposing) democracy in the Muslim world anytime soon. The despotisms that constitute the norm of governance for Islamic societies do not contain the necessary prerequisites — a plurality of institutions, civil society, and the rule of law — for a newly-born democracy to flourish. Turkey is the best we can hope for, and even after eighty-five years of ruthlessly enforced secular governance, Turkey is not a model Western-style democracy. It is teetering on the brink of resurgent Islamic fundamentalism. The dilemma facing democracy enthusiasts is this: if an opportunity for truly democratic elections were to arise within the Islamic world, extremist illiberal Islamic zealots would be elected in various countries from Algeria to Pakistan. The ascendance of Hamas in “Palestine” is only the latest example of this trend: (READ MORE)
Don Surber: War crimes - The enemy mails severed fingers of Western hostages. And I’m supposed to worry about some terrorist getting water poured over him? And I don’t want to hear about retaliation. KSM beheaded Daniel Pearl long before we waterboarded KSM. Anyway, AP reported: “Severed fingers of five Western hostages were reportedly sent to U.S. government officials, giving the men’s relatives hope that they are still alive, a brother of one of the missing men said.” It quoted the twin brother of a hostage, Patrick Reuben, a Minneapolis police officer: “certainly hopeful, but there’s nothing definite right now.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: Protest in Senate Was Just the Tip of the Moonbat Iceberg - The media reported the disruption in the US Senate yesterday by protesters bleating the same tired chants we've heard for 5 years - "stop the war", "stop the funding", "bring them home", blah blah blah. I didn't hear it but I'm sure there were some calls about freedom for Mumia. But that was only the tip of the looney iceberg. The outburst in the Senate was just part of the "bigger" Stop/Loss Congress protest. Yes Virginia, these protesters actually blocked the streets and parking garages in an attempt to keep Congress at their jobs. This was after the "crowd" delivered Stop/Loss notices to members of Congress. I kid you not - these people actually thought they could do this and be successful at it. (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
Trackbacked / Linked by:
Moqtada al-Sadr from Right Truth
Remember These Guys? (Al Qaeda) from Pros and Cons
Interesting … updated from Pros and Cons
No comments:
Post a Comment